Thursday, 27 July 2017

The Royal Welsh Show

We've just got back from a few days away.

We went to somewhere we've wanted to go to ever since we moved into Wales ... the Royal Welsh Show.

It was as expected absolutely massive, lots of stands, lots of animals and lots of people, a heaving mass of humanity all on a ginormous, purpose built, permanent showground in Buìlth Wells, mid Wales. We hadn't realised just how huge it was until we got there, really it would take two days to get to see everything and to be able to watch more of the animal competitions.

This time we focused on the pigs, as that is what we will probably show there in the future. Pigs are nowhere near as common as sheep in Wales, but they are Alan's first love and what we always planned to put in our woodland. We took the opportunity to join the Wales and Border Counties Pig Breeders Association and had a good chat with some of the committee members while we were there.

Now we're home, tired and foot weary but full of ideas. The dogs have just been picked up from the kennels, the poly tunnel has been watered and four more chickens have just been purchased from our local chicken breeder as we lost three girls last week and numbers were down.

It's been a busy few days, so now it's time to catch our breath and get back to normal ... or as normal as things can be with a chicken sat on the conservatory step shouting for my attention 😊

8 comments:

I used to go regularly, mainly for the horse classes, but it was always interesting seeing the other animals being shown, and wandering through the masses of trade stands. It was a time to catch up with friends and neighbours too, and good to cheer them on if they were showing. It sounds like you had a good time, and a useful one ref. the pig breeding and showing in the future.

I love shows like that, so interesting. I can't wait to see pictures of your pigs. If I had more land I would definitely have two pigs (as pets). I like the Kune Kune pigs as I believe they have lovely friendly natures. What nature do the Large Black pigs have? I just caught a programme on TV last night about showing pigs (don't know what it was called) but I was fascinated and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were some very well cared for and much loved pigs being shown, some well behaved and some not. Sorry to hear that you have lost some chooks - was it due to old age or illness I wonder? Chickens are my first love and I like to learn as much as possible about them. Hope you have a nice relaxing weekend after your time away. Looks like it's going to be another wet one in Stockport, but we'll make the most of it.

Unfortunately we don't have any shows like that here. This is big cattle country and we have the 'Stampede' every year which has a lot of different ranch/farm animals in the barns. But it is very expensive to get into the grounds so we don't bother going any more. But, if you've never seen a rodeo or chuckwagon races it is well worth going. http://www.calgarystampede.com/

I entered 'country lifestyle blogs' into Google, looking for some fun, interesting and intelligent writing, being fed up of some of the younger bloggers and their style. And there you were, top of the list. So here I am, having just sort of started a blog of my own, and yours looks inviting. I am of Welsh stock, with a bit of Scottish and a whole lot of Yorkshire thrown into the mix, and lived in South Wales for a time, as well as several other places. Now happily settled in Norfolk this past thirty years, with an unwanted break in London for several years. I shall look forward to more of your posts.

This is my Blog, just me writing about our day to day life on a hillside in North Wales. Along with our dogs, Suky and Mavis, our cat Ginger .... who secretly thinks he's one of the canine gang ... and a roving band of egg laying chickens that live cheek by jowl with the local wildlife.

We grow our own fruit and vegetables, selling surplus plants and edibles at the gate. We sell the eggs the chickens lay, we reuse, recycle and rethink ... and life ticks over at a pace that suits us.

It is simply the wild and wacky ramblings of a 50 something townie turned country girl called Sue, who lost her heart to a sailor and started a new life in the country .... over nine years ago. On a path that took us from Cumbria to Oxfordshire, to Berkshire and then we found our home at the bottom of a wet and windy Welsh hillside by a busy main road.

Pull up a chair, grab a coffee and relax into a world of dogs, cats, chickens, the occasional grass munching sheep ... and some pretty delicious vegan foods ... oh did I mention that I don't actually eat the eggs!!

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I use it to chart the day by day, week by week, year by year goings on in mine and Lovely Hubby's life. In it I also express my views and opinions, and say what I do andoccasionally how I do it. I am hoping that this will prove to be a useful reminder for myself of how we did things, as we continue in our learning process.

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